Matthew R. O'Connor
Associate
Matt O'Connor is an associate in Pierce Atwood’s Litigation Practice Group, handling commercial, construction, and ERISA litigation, as well as assisting an active receivership practice on litigation matters. Matt has experience in the state, federal, and bankruptcy courts. He is involved in all aspects of litigation, including investigation, discovery, and depositions, and has experience trying cases and resolving matters by way of alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration and mediation. Matt has argued motions and appeared on behalf of clients in state and federal courts throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Before joining Pierce Atwood, Matt was an associate in the Boston and Providence offices of Morrison Mahoney LLP and served as a law clerk to Associate Justice Francis X. Flaherty of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
While in law school, Matt was a member of the Suffolk Prosecutors Clinic and placed as a Rule 3:03 Student Prosecutor with the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office in West Roxbury District Court. While serving in this role, he first-chaired a successful jury trial.
In addition, Matt was a member of the Moot Court Honor Board and a comment editor for the Suffolk Journal of Trial & Appellate Advocacy.
- Named a "Rising Star" for Business Litigation in Rhode Island by Super Lawyers (2021 & 2022)
- Pro Bono Honor Roll, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (2014)
- American Bar Association, Member, Litigation Section and Forum on Construction Law
- Defense Research Institute (DRI)
- Rhode Island Bar Association
- New Lawyers Committee, Rhode Island Bar Association
- Superior Court Bench/Bar Committee, Rhode Island Bar Association
- "Mode of Operation: Not Just for Supermarkets Anymore," The Standard (February 2016).
- Comment, What Constitutes an Objectively Unreasonable Reaction? -- Tolan v. Cotton, 713 F.3d 299 (5th Cir. 2013), 19 Suffolk J. Trial & App. Advoc. 235 (2014).
- Editor, Future Builders Newsletter, Associated General Contractors of Massachusetts
- JDRF New England Chapter, V1P Fundraiser (2019)
Practice Areas
- Represented an international financial services company in successfully quashing a subpoena which would have subjected the company to a “fishing expedition” deposition prior to the client being sued.
- Represented a regional telecommunications company in a dispute with a municipality regarding the municipality's hiring of the client's employee and resulting alleged breach of an anti-poaching and non-solicitation agreement.
- Represented an international financial services company in a dispute and objection to a subpoena for its records in the Rhode Island Superior Court.